Despite Apple's HQ being already one of world's most expensive and expansive headquarters, in 2025 Apple spent a quarter of what it paid for Apple Park on more office space in California to house a still-growing employee base.
Back in 2019, Apple's corporate headquarters at Apple Park was said to be worth $4.17 billion. Opened in 2017, it can house 13,000 employees — and practically from the start, it wasn't enough.
Apple has kept on expanding with new sites and according to The Mercury News, 2025 alone has now seen it acquire over a billion dollars of office space. Apple doesn't publish this detail, so it's compiled from multiple real estate sources, but it appears Apple is spending half a billion every six months.
By June 2025, for instance, Apple was reported to have spent $350 million on a two-building Santa Clara office campus. And that followed $160 million on an office in Tantau, Cupertino.
Complicating the news is that Apple seems to chiefly be either subletting from other firms, or taking over their lease. Sometimes it may be both, as firms don't want to pay out to quit a lease early.
Based on the best available data, Apple's 2025 spending on extra office space near Apple Park has been:
- $166.9 million at 10200 North Tantau Ave, Cupertino
- $216 million for offices on Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino
- $350 million for Mathilda Commons offices, Sunnyvale
- $365 million Sunnyvale offices including West Maude Ave
As well as details coming from multiple sources, there is also the issue that in some of these cases, Apple already had a presence. But these 2025 purchases represent 1,269,900 square feet of office space.
Apple Park has been reported to comprise 2.8 million square feet.
There are many reasons for operating different buildings, it does not just have to be that there's no room at the inn. Apple could be working on projects that require specialized equipment, or just secret staff.
Then while it does not appear to have happened in these cases, Apple could buy out a building when acquiring a team.
Imagine working this close to Apple Park but not insider it — image credit: Apple Maps
But at least at times, it has simply been that Apple's buildings were full. That's the situation now, despite headline news of droves quitting Apple, and it has long been the case too.
For back in 2006, Steve Jobs said that "our headcount in Cupertino has dramatically expanded."
"We are in 30 other buildings now," Jobs continued, "and they keep getting further and further away from the campus. We've rented every scrap of building we could find in Cupertino."
Consequently, Apple bought nine separate properties and levelled them in order to make Apple Park.
